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Gas Additives

2K views 13 replies 8 participants last post by  mudpack 
#1 ·
Anyone use gas additives? If you do in your opinion do you think they are worth it and do you you think they do what they say they do - clean carbs and injectors? I use them in my boat cause it some times sits for long periods of time and things like varnish tend to build up in the carbs. The additives have definitely helped the situation in my boat. But are they worth using in my truck.
 
#2 ·
I use them (diesel additives) in the winter time to lessen the chance of moisture and jelling as my truck sits a lot. I have found that if I store my mower with a full 10 gallons in the tank It never has an issue but when I stored it basically empty the fuel went bad and caused me to have some problems. So I now store everything Full to the top and then add some stabil to it. Most of the additives sold for gas engines contain a lot of or are mostly isopropyl alcohol which encapuslates the moisture in the fuel system so it does not effect combustion. I am not sure if the FI cleaners actually do anything for you at all. I know the spray on carb cleaner removes build-up in a hurry but has a very strong smell and is probably more concentrated than pouring a small bottle in your tank. The FI cleaner I have seen used that you pour in a tank has about as strong a smell as water. I guess if you used it for every tank it might help keep things clean but I can not see it removing 100,000 miles of build-up on or in a fuel injection system.
 
#3 ·
depends on how much you drive, if the truck sits and maybe gets driven once a week it wouldnt hurt to put something Like stabil in it. but if its a daily driver and you're looking for a tune up in a bottle, the only thing that I've seen actually work is SeaFoam. Pour it in, run a tank and then change spark plugs. as well as make sure normal stuff like oil and filter are good, air filter, transmission fluid and filter, coolant, transfercase fluid, and differential fluids are all in good shape.
 
#4 ·
As far as FIC goes, over here the popular two are Lucas Upper Cylinder Lube and Seafoam. I have have about 7yrs in the auto parts business and truely think they do help. The Lucas used to be #1 but the Seafoam is by far better an dmany lucas users have switched. The seafoam most of ya have probably used in your boats, or other small engines but is effective in car engines as well. I use it in my 84 chevy daily driver and when I use it I can feel a difference in acceleration and the motor idles alot smoother as well. We have 10% ethanol gas over here in delaware and it sucks. It takes twice the amount of alcohol to make the same amount of power as 100% gas. Seafoam claims to negate the effects of ethanol but who knows for sure, a company called Star brite I belive makes a product called startron which kills the effects of ethanol as well. I my buddies he turns less rpm's and gets more mph with it as compared to without. So in a nut shell yea I think they're woth it, not miracle workers but....
 
#5 ·
bubbasblazer said:
my buddies he turns less rpm's and gets more mph with it as compared to without.
:huh: :huh: :huh:

RPM's of the engine are directly related to the RPM of the tire which is directly related to the MPH especially in a STD trans. did you mean MPG?
 
#7 ·
I run marine stabil and Yamaha ring free plus in my outboard. Could probably get by with just the stabil. Occasionally run some howes through my old diesel pickup. Anything that sits for extended periods (4-wheeler, weedeater, mower) get the red stabil, every tank, all year long. Daily drivers, gas burners, I don't know that it would help you much, but idk for sure. It's not that expensive, run a couple of treated tanks through it and see what it does. It's not gonna hurt it.
 
#9 ·
bubbasblazer said:
Laptop was geiing ready to die, and forgot to add a few words LOL. In his boat using startron he turns less rpm's while getting more speed. I could only imagine it's due to more efficient combustion.
Again The RPM are directly related to the speed of the prop so more RPM = More speed unless the water condidions change or th eprop slips a lot. lowering RPM will not increase the speed even in a boat. :thumbsup:
 
#10 ·
Just repeatin what he told me. While I never really put much thought into it but kinda don't make much sense after thinkin' bout it. I will say early 2012 we had a baby and knowing i wansn't going cat fishing i dumped the green sta-bil in the half full tank. Damn thing sat all summer and fired right up during early teal. It deffinately made a believer outta me. Never tried the sea-foam slurped through a vacuum line. I've been told by the old heads it's best to change your oil after that since the hot soak breaks up crud, but at the same time unless you have alot of blow-by in the cylinders it shouldn't be an issue anyone else heard this.
 
#11 ·
Star tron is not to make more power it is to designed to prevent fuel seperation and fuel oil seperation in premix 2 strokes (ethanol will separate from gas) once this occurs your gas is lower octane as ethanol is much higher octane. reasearch how to remove ethanol and one of the steps is to raise octane after the ethanol is removed because 93 octane e10 will usually yeild fuel with less than 87 octane. Ethanol burns hotter so when a gas engine not designed to run off an alcohol will suffer damage when it runs on ethanol only. Most problems due to ethanol are in small engines that were not designed for this and are in storage for a longer period of time or are in a very moist atmosphere (adding water to e10 fuel causes seperation rapidly which is actually part of the homebrew removal processse) Starbrite claims their product helps prevent this nothing more. If you research ethanol issues much most chemists believe adding anything with any type of alcohol in it can be more damaging than good. Do some reading on ethanol treatement before deciding what type of additives would be best for your application would be my best advice me personally I never run any in a car or truck of mine but do use star tron in my sleds, 4wheeler, boat and all my small lawn type equipment that is not run daily
 
#12 ·
bubbasblazer said:
I've been told by the old heads it's best to change your oil after that since the hot soak breaks up crud, but at the same time unless you have alot of blow-by in the cylinders it shouldn't be an issue anyone else heard this.
It doesn't contaminate the oil unless you use it in the crankcase (which you can do). If you use through the intake it'll smoke like hell and might foul up the plugs but the oil should be fine. I've used it through the intake and in the fuel but never in the crankcase. I think they usually say if you run it in the crankcase to change the oil very shortly thereafter.
 
#14 ·
bubbasblazer said:
In his boat using startron he turns less rpm's while getting more speed. I could only imagine it's due to more efficient combustion.
It's due to a more efficient imagination.

In a boat, just as in a car, you cannot get more vehicle speed (mph) without more engine speed (RPM) UNLESS SOMETHING ELSE HAS CHANGED. And that something else is gearing. In a boat, that means a change in the prop.

To the OP's question:
There are three gas additives I've found over the years that actually work. First is Stabil. I use this in my seasonal engines that will sit for more than a month and cannot be easily drained of all fuel.
Second is Techron. This keeps the in-tank fuel sending units clean, and seems to keep injectors working well.
The third is Seafoam. In cases where Techron has not been used and fuel system components are affected by deposits, the Seafoam seems to help clear them out after the fact.
In my opinion, everything else on the market, being either alcohol or kerosene, is a waste of money.
 
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